The Dynamics of Holding-Together Integration

Establishing the differences between HTI and coming-together regionalism in terms of their origin and development is not an attempt to draw conclusions regarding the comparative evolution of HTI. Both HTI and coming-together regionalism aim to establish or to maintain a certain level of economic openness and political cooperation between countries; they are subject to similar external factors and forces (and, as aforementioned, they can be united by a shared history). Therefore, if it were possible to demonstrate that HTI and coming-together regionalism react identically to identical external influences, there would be no need to differentiate between these two types in an empirical study. Any differences ought to be related to the strength of these external forces rather than to the specific characteristics of the type of regionalism per se. The aim of this chapter is to suggest hypotheses to predict differences in the responses of HTI and coming-together regional projects to identical external factors. The three main areas of difference to identify are as follows: reaction to negative external economic shocks;sequence of the various stages of integration;the extent to which the regional integration is politicized.